It is entirely possible to do very well in a race just doing a good rigorous form of yoga. I remember when I went on a climb of katadhan and several other ranges, and all I did before doing them was do my yoga practice. The boys (DH and his best friend) were like "you're going to be SORE!" and all kinds of stuff. But I was fine -- no problems with my feet, my legs, no tiredness, it was easy. Enjoyed it.

So, yeah.

I just liked the training. And if you like that, then you do that and no worries.

But all of my trainings were sprint-based. Meaning, instead of doing a long, slow swim in the pool, I did sprints of various distances with shortened rest periods in between. Instead of doing long rides, I mostly did hills (which functions like intervals). For running, I'd do an occasional long-slow (for my distance), but mostly focused on speed intervals.

It worked nicely. Kept training times down (i had a lot to do between law school, working part time, family life, commuting, etc) and created nice fitness.

Best time to ensure your muscles are utilizing carbs is directly after a workout. Carbs are driven into the muscles rapidly when consumed at that time. This would be a good time for a banana or your dried fruit and a quick-digesting protein ( I use whey powder)

Sweet potatoes, taro root and cassava root are great primal carb sources too. I have athletes I coach who are doing Ironman triathlons and running crazy long distances and they all eat lots of sweet potatoes, We shoot for 150-180g/day of carbs on training days, 100g on off days. Many have added white rice back into the mix and have seen no real down side. Lara bars are a good packaged source of calories. You can keto-adapt to a point. For more on the subject you might try reading about Metabolic Efficiency. Bob Seebohar (US olympic tri team nutritionist) is an advocate of a high fat diet for athletes. Studies have show that the refeeding window is a bit of a misnomer, all the the benefits are only realized if you are doing another workout later in the day. If you can't refuel for a couple of hours its not that big of a deal. Short distance racing requires very high intensity, practice it.